OpTic Gaming is a multi-gaming esports organization, fielding one of the most traditional teams within competitive Call of Duty.

The team originally had aspirations to become specifically, a Call of Duty sniping team, when they were established in 2006 by OpTiC KR3W. After a short stint of leadership, KR3W steps down and OpTic Jon3S then took his place. Jon3S also only had a short stint as the leader of OpTic Gaming and in 2007, he stepped down and handed leadership to Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez.

H3CZ ran the team for 2 full years before branching onto the YouTube platform. He made a name for both himself and the organization with them having 1,410,132 subscribers as of April 6th, 2018. During the time, that the YouTube channel started to grow, the organization made a leap into the Call of Duty franchise. This wing of the team has since garnered one of the biggest fanbases and one of the biggest presences in the game.

As well as having the Call of Duty team, in 2014, the team launched their Halo team and then again in 2016, they expanded into Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

History

The Rise of OpTic Gaming

OpTic Gaming’s professional team was established in 2010. The initial game, chosen was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. During that same year, OpTic Gaming placed in the top eight twice. The MLG Online National Championship was one of them and the team placed eighth and then the other competition where OpTic placed in the top eight was The MLG National Championship 2010 where OpTic Gaming took fourth place and $2,000 in prize money.

In 2011, the team branched into the newer game, Call of Duty: Black Ops and on January 24 OpTic Gaming placed second in the MLG $25K tournament with the roster consisting of BigTymeR, MerK, ProoFy and Rambo. The only team that beat OpTic Gaming in this competition was Quantic LeveraGe.

MLG Dallas took place in the April of 2011. In this competition, OpTic Gaming took a very respectable third place along with $4,000 in prize money. The roster that the organization had for the event was BigTymeR, MerK, JKap and NaDeSHoT. Between the MLG $25K tournament and the MLG Dallas, two players were replaced, Rambo and ProoFy were replaced by NaDeSHoT and JKap.

OpTic Gaming took a brand new approach to Esports by having a competitive Call of Duty: Second Team. This second team's roster consisted of NaDeSHoT, ProoFy, Felonies and Option.This second team became known as OpTic Nation.

The next event at which OpTic placed well was MLG Columbus, but prior to that event, OpTic Gaming undertook a new first in competitive Call of Duty: a second team. This second team consisted of NaDeSHoT, ProoFy, Felonies and Option. At MLG Columbus, both teams placed well, with OpTic Gaming coming in first place taking home the substantial amount of $10,000. OpTic Nation then came in sixth position taking a respectable $1,400.

The roster that OpTic Gaming decided to take forward for the rest of the Call of Duty: Black Ops season was BigTymeR, MerK, Rambo and JKap. They went onto place third at MLG Anaheim, winning $4,000. They then went on to place fourth at MLG Raleigh, winning $2,800. Continuing their good run, they placed first at MLG Orlando, winning $10,000. At the biggest event of the season, at the MLG National Championship 2011 they ended a very successful season with a third place, winning them $20,000.

The total earnings for OpTic Gaming for the 2011 Call of Duty Season, including OpTic Nation, is $59,200.

New Game, New Players

When Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 came out, OpTic Gaming revised their roster with a new set of players consisting of BigTymeR, MerK, NaDeSHoT and Vengeance. Rambo was released due to conflicting issues within the United States. The next tournament became one of OpTic Gaming’s biggest accomplishments, Call of Duty XP. At the event, they placed 1st over Til' Infinity, IcoNs and infused. After XP, BigTymeR, MerK and Rambo all made the switch to apeX.NA for a few events. During that time, the first ever UMG LAN tournament was held and OpTic Gaming placed 3rd at the event with a team of NexXx, NaDeSHoT, Saints and Krump. After UMG Classic, OpTic Gaming was left without a team and solely focused on YouTube until EGL 7 where BigTymeR, MerK, Rambo and Scump won. This powerhouse of a team took home multiple 1st and 2nd place finishes throughout the rest of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 season and was nearly the most dominant Optic has ever been.

Black Ops II: The Return Of NaDeSHoT

Before Frag Cup IV, OpTic decided to drop Rambo both for not being able to compete because he lived in Canada and for other team reasons. After making a decision, OpTic Gaming again picked up NaDeSHoT. NaDeSHoT continued to play alongside BigTymeR, MerK and Scump to finish in multiple top four and top eight spots including a 1st place victory during UMG Chicago.

The Fall of OpTic?

Heading into Call of Duty: Ghosts, the OpTic Gaming team started to fall short of top eight finishes at events, both online and on LAN. After the MLG Fall Championship in Columbus, Ohio, JKap was dropped and OpTic Gaming picked up Ricky. Shortly after UMG Philadelphia, BigTymeR announced that he would be retiring from competitive Call of Duty and coaching the OpTic Gaming squad.[1] Following an avalanche of team changes, OpTic Gaming landed with NaDeSHoT, Scump, Clayster and MBoZe who went on to compete in the 2014 Call of Duty Championship, placing 3rd and taking home $120,000. After Champs, OpTic made a huge announcement: once again, they formed a second team. The team consisted of MBoZe as captain with MiRx, KiLLa and Ricky underneath. This left NaDeSHoT to captain OpTic Gaming with teammates Clayster, Scump, and ProoFy. They ended up with two OpTic teams once again, OpTic Gaming and OpTic Nation.

Soon after OpTic Gaming had a T8 placing at UGC Niagara, MLG announced the X Games Invitational held in Austin, Texas. After their sweet victories over rivals Evil Geniuses (formerly known as compLexity) and EnVyUs, OpTic reached a Grand Final against Team KaLiBeR. In a tight Game 5, OpTic pulled out the victory on Sovereign Search and Destroy 6-4 and gained their first Call of Duty Ghosts LAN tournament victory, along with an X Games Gold Medal.

OpTic Gaming attended and competed at UMG Dallas and came home with an 4th place finish for $2,000, just above Most Wanted in 5th. The team then went on to UMG Nashville to try to get another win under the OpTic name in the penultimate North American event of Call of Duty: Ghosts. OpTic Gaming finished second in their pool due to map count, after finished 2-1 and involved in a 3 way tie. They lost to Rise in pool play but managed to secure a satisfying 3-0 win over rival team Evil Geniuses, before being knocked out in round 5 of the losers bracket yet again by Rise to finish a respectable 5th-6th going into their final event of Call of Duty: Ghosts.

New Game, New Roster

As is customary, upon the release of a new title, RosterMania began. OpTic Gaming was no exception in this wave of roster changes. Five days after Advanced Warfare was released, NaDeSHoT announced that Clayster and ProoFy were being released from OpTic Gaming as they picked up FormaL. A few days later, OpTic Gaming announced their two new rosters for Advanced Warfare, with OpTic Gaming's consisting of NaDeSHoT, Scump, FormaL, and Crimsix

OpTic Gaming came into MLG Columbus with the number one overall seeding having won both the 5K and 10K tournaments. They were placed in Group A with Team KaLiBeR, Prophecy, ESPORT.Collapse and Noble Gaming who came out of the Open Bracket. They finished with a 3-1 pool play record, losing only against Team KaLiBeR. OpTic defeated JusTus 3-2 to kick off bracket play. On Sunday, they beat EnVyUs and Prophecy 3-0 back-to-back, advancing to the Grand Final against FaZe. FaZe won the first best of five 3-1, sending the series to a second series, in which they defeated Optic Gaming 3-2. OpTic finished 2nd with $6,000 and 15,000 pro points each.

Following their 2nd place finish at MLG Columbus, OpTic Gaming defeated Stunner Gaming 3-0 in the final of UMG Orlando to take their first tournament in Advanced Warfare. OpTic came out of pool play in 2nd with losses to Stunner and Team Revenge. They advanced through the winners bracket with wins over Prophecy and SYNRGY Gaming to make it to the grand final, where they defeated Stunner.

OpTic Gaming continued their dominant streak in to the MLG Advanced Warfare Season 1 League and went on to finish the league with a record of 38 wins and 6 losses, which is the best league record in any MLG league season by a team to date. This record qualified them with the number 1 seed for the MLG Advanced Warfare Season 1 Playoffs. At the event, the team dominated as they only lost a total of three maps overall while defeating Rise Nation, Aware, Team Kaliber and Denial.

Once again, OpTic Gaming continued their streak into the North American Regional event for the Call of Duty Championship. They played amazingly well at the event, going 18-1 in map count with the only map loss being a Hardpoint to FaZe Red. They defeated MFAM, EcHo, tK, EnVy, FaZe Red and Denial on their way to their third straight event win. This excellent finish gave the team the top overall seed going into the World Championship at the end of March.

NaDeSHoT's Departure

On April 4th, 2015, NaDeSHoT stepped away from the competitive Call of Duty scene after OpTic Gaming's disappointing 7th place finish at the Call of Duty Championship 2015. He said his reasoning came from his lack of drive to win and a desire to focus on YouTube and Streaming. Following his departure, Karma came aboard as OpTic's fourth and Scump was made the team's captain.

OpTic, looking to win three tournaments in three weeks, entered UMG California 2015 with Karma returning after his absence from the team in Europe. This OpTic Gaming team, looking strong, won their pool 4-0 with a 12-2 map count. They then defeated 3-0 both Team EnVyUs and JusTus to secure their spot in the Winners Bracket Finals. Their next match was against Enigma 6, a team coming all the way from the open bracket. E6 put up a good fight during this series, including an extremely intense CTF on Retreat, but the GreenWall proved to be too much for E6 as OpTic won the series 3-1 to advance to the Grand Finals of UMG California. Once again, they faced off against FaZe Clan in the finals with FaZe needing to win two best of five matches and OpTic Gaming needing to win only one to take home the championship. FaZe won the first best of five match 3-2, forcing a second best of five. OpTic came out much hotter this series, winning it 3-0 to be crowned the UMG California champions, completing their "3peat" in 3 weeks.

OpTic Gaming headed into Advanced Warfare's Season 2 Playoffs at XGAMES with the number one seed and three wins at the last three tournaments. OpTic would defeat Team Kaliber and Team eLevate 4-1 and 4-0 respectively to advance to the winner's finals, where they faced FaZe. They dominated FaZe in the winner's finals 4-1 and improved this score when FaZe returned in the grand finals with a swift 4-0. OpTic defended the title and won back to back XGAMES gold medals with a 16-2 map win-loss count. This victory made them and Scump the only organization and player to win more than 1 gold medal in all of eSports.

A Fall From Grace and Rise Back To The Top

After their success at XGames, OpTic continued to grow alongside new addition Karma and went on to be successful in Season 3 of the MLG Pro League. However, as they continued, a huge deal was made, in which Clayster and Attach were swapped for SlasheR and Huke between Denial eSports and FaZe Clan, respectively. As a result of the huge move, FaZe took their momentum into the next few LAN events events. During UMG Dallas 2015, OpTic was upset by Epsilon.NA and dropped down into the loser's bracket. Although they made a successful run through it, they faced a rested and relaxed FaZe squad. According to Scump, his "hands were literally shaking" from being so tired of playing. They went on to lose the Grand Finals 3-0 and took a second place finish for the first time against Faze. These two squads later met each other at the Gfinity Summer Championship in the United Kingdom. OpTic Gaming made their way to the finals in a relatively simple fashion, and it was widely speculated that they would face FaZe again in the Grand Finals. In the Grand Finals, OpTic took a 3-1 lead in the best of 7 series. However, everyone was shocked as FaZe completed a 3-1 comeback to steal the championship away from the GreenWall.

After Pro League difficulties and a league reset, OpTic went into UMG Washington D.C. 2015 confident and well-practiced. OpTic was placed in Pool A alongside Rise Nation, TCM Gaming, Stunner Gaming, and Onslaught eSports. They would go on to take the pool 4-0, with a map count of 12-1. They had only dropped a map to TCM Gaming, which has two of Crimsix's and Karma's old teammates. After everyone was surprised that FaZe would be put in the loser's bracket off the bat, OpTic would go on to 3-1 and 3-2 Orbit and Team EnVyUs to advance to the Winner's Bracket Finals. Crimsix later stated that nV was their hardest match of the tournament since they were down 0-2 in the series and because the games were extremely close. OG would face the 2015 World Champion organization, Denial eSports, in the Winner's Bracket Finals. This series ended up being a very close 3-0 sweep for the GreenWall, including a last second shot from Scump to win the Uplink by 1 point. They would face Denial again in the Grand Finals, this time with the Wolf Pack coming off of a 3-2 victory over MES champions, eLevate. However the results weren't very different, OpTic would 3-0 them again to gain their place back at the top and to take home another championship for the GreenWall.

The success in D.C. didn't stop there, after the final matches of Season 3 were streamed it was shown that OpTic Gaming went 11-0 in the season to take the first seed going into the MLG Pro League Season 3 Playoffs. They went in confident with the amount of practice that they had gotten in all gamemodes, and earned themselves a bye in the first round with the number 1 seed. Their first two matches were against Rise Nation and iSolation Empire, these teams proved to be little competition to the GreenWall as they went on to 4-1 and 4-0 both of these teams respectively. They would go on to face the dark horse of the tournament, Epsilon eSports, in the Winner's Bracket Finals. This team was coming off wins against top teams like Denial, Team eLevate, and FaZe Clan, they carried their momentum into the match against OpTic as they took them the distance. However, OpTic Gaming clutched up round 11 on Recovery SnD in game 7 and advanced to the Grand Finals of another LAN event. In this Grand Finals they faced off against their rivals, FaZe Clan, once again. The Red Militia once again broke through the GreenWall and won two best of 7s with both having a map count of 4-1. This marked the first time OpTic lossed at the MLG.tv arena in Advanced Warfare.

After the road bump at S3 Playoffs, OpTic Gaming went home and recollected themselves as they practiced for the final major LAN event in AW, the MLG World Finals. They were placed in pool A with Team Kaliber, Team infused, XGN Competitive, and Thrust Nation came from the open bracket. Only infused gave them trouble by forcing OG to mount an 0-2 comeback, which they ended up doing and finishing the pool in first, with a 4-0 win count and 12-2 map count. All matches in the Winner's Bracket would be best of 7 series, OpTic coasted through their side of the bracket by beating JusTus, Team EnVyUs, and won the Winner's Bracket finals against Team eLevate with the scores of the matches being 4-1, 4-0, and then 4-2. Then OpTic Gaming found themselves in the last Grand Finals in AW, but not against the team they or anyone expected after FaZe Clan was eliminated early on by Denial eSports. So, OpTic faced off against Denial in the Grand Finals for the fifth and final time. After losing the first map by a few points, OpTic would sweep Denial 4-0 to hoist the MLG World Finals and the final trophy in Advanced Warfare. This marked OpTic's most successful year by far. They won 9 championships, all 3 of the online Pro League Season, appeared in 10/11 Grand Finals, they won many online tournaments hosted by MLG and UMG, and earned 1,651,320 pro points.

Back in Black

Heading into the Call of Duty: Black Ops III season, many teams were looking to make roster changes, while OpTic Gaming was going in as the most dominant team in the previous title and season. After winning 9 championships in AW, many people still asked whether or not OpTic Gaming would be making any roster changes for the new game. It was confirmed by the captain of the team, Scump, on stream and in some of his videos that they would not be making any changes to their roster because of their recent and past success.

The first live LAN event was announced on November 11th, 2015. It was the Totino's Invitational 2015 and it would be a one day event that would be streamed on Twitch and hosted on November 14th. The team traveled to Columbus, Ohio, and their first match was against the former Team Revenge, now playing under Team eLevate. OpTic took the Hardpoint on Breach with ease, winning with a score of 250-148, then lost the Uplink on Evac 6-13, and finally took the Search and Destroy 6-3 to take the series 2-1. They then advanced to the semi-finals to play the returning organization of compLexity. The Hardpoint on Fringe was a little bit closer with OG winning 250-185, lost Stronghold CTF 1-2, and then winning the Search and Destroy in a dominating fashion with a score of 6-1. With the 2-1 victory over coL, OpTic Gaming advanced to another grand finals with their opponent being Rise Nation this time. Rise put up a fight that most people didn't see coming, they dominated OpTic on Combine Hardpoint with a score of 250-136. OG bounced right back by taking both the Search and Destroy on Evac and the Uplink on Stronghold with scores of 6-1 and 9-4 before dropping the Capture The Flag on Fringe 1-3. The game 5, Breach Search and Destroy went the distance as the two teams battle back an forth to round 11. Slacked ended up getting a very important 2 piece with his specialist that ultimately left Karma in a tough situation. The clock ended up running out, thus meaning that Rise Nation were victorious and giving OpTic their first second place finish in the Call of Duty: Black Ops III season.

After qualifying for the 2016 NA CWL Stage 1 Regular Season, OpTic Gaming played 22 matches against 11 other teams, and ended up with a record of 20-2. In between the Stage 1 duration, OpTic headed out to UMG South Carolina 2016, where they sought redemption for their 2nd place finish at the Totino's Invitational 2015. They started out the tournament by playing against Jester eSports first round, where they ended up winning the series 4-0. From then, OpTic went on to play against H2k-Gaming. During this time, multiple complaints about Bluetooth interference with the PlayStation 4 controllers ended up becoming a serious problem during the event. OpTic took Map 1, but H2k ended up winning 3 more games to have themselves up 3-1 in the BO7. With resilience, OpTic ended up taking the next 2 maps to force a Game 7. Before the Game 7, all spectators were warned to turn off their cell phones, as they believed that the Bluetooth signal would affect the controllers of the players. H2k ended up closing out the SnD, 6-2, and sent OpTic Gaming home with a 5-8th place finish.

Disappointed and angry, OpTic Gaming went into the 2016 NA CWL Stage 1 Playoffs with the number 1 seed, determined to conquer the event and dethrone Rise Nation as the best team in Black Ops 3. OpTic faced off against Team SoloMid first round, where OpTic took first map with Karma making insane plays with the Tempest. TSM fired back and took Map 2, as well as a Map 3: Breach Uplink. Going into Map 4, OpTic ended up taking it to tie the series 2-2 in the BO7. TSM took Map 5, and were up 3-2 in the BO7, making OpTic face elimination. However, OpTic won Map 6 and Map 7: Stronghold SnD, 6-3 to win the series 4-3, and eliminate TSM from the tournament.
Championship Sunday, OpTic faced off against Team eLevate, where they swept them with a 4-0 win to face no other than Rise Nation in the grand finals. OpTic started out the series with a 3-0 advantage in the BO7, including a Fringe Uplink win with a score of 14-2. However, Rise started to climb their way back into the series into ultimately forcing a Game 7, in hopes of completing a reverse sweep. On Infection SnD, OpTic were up 5-3, and Rise took the next two rounds of SnD to force a Round 11. FormaL and Scump killed 2 players, giving themselves a 4v2 advantage, but quickly after, Classic and Octane killed Scump and Crimsix, evening the round in a 2v2 situation. However, Karma ended up picking up a massive 2 piece against Classic and Octane, to win the round and ultimately OpTic beats Rise in an intense BO7, winning 4-3. In addition, this tournament win gives OpTic their first 1st place finish at a LAN event for Black Ops 3.

To Infinity and Beyond

Since the beginning of the game, Optic Gaming had a fairly slow start, not having not won a single LAN event since the release of the Game. This with only a top 8 placing in the CODWorld League Season 1 Playoffs as well as in MLG Anaheim. At this point Optic Gaming were looking towards season 2 where they were set on placing first and making a true run for Cod Champs. They continued their warpath conquering 2017 CWL Pro League Stage 2 and finishing off the season by claiming victory at 2017 Call of Duty World League Championship.

Back To The Ground

After a few years of futuristic and in-the-air action, the game is back on the ground. The Infinite Warfare team did not accustom to this change with inconsistent placing with the lowest placement, 13-16th at the 2018 Seattle Open. With what is known as on of the greatest choke, the team placed 2nd at the Stage 1 Playoffs. The team continue to preform poorly even after recruiting Octane and Methodz, and kicking FormaL and Karma. They ended the season placing 17-24th in the [2018 Call of Duty World League Championship].

A Green Wall

After an embarrassing season, the team reorganized. During the 2K series and CMG ProDown, the team has shown they are back. Completely dominating these tournaments with no sign of stopping.